A Film Review of No Man's Land and We Were Soldiers
War—Real or Reel—What Can We Learn?
Given
recent world events and pronouncements, two movies have helped us to begin
sorting out our disparate thoughts and feelings about war. One comes from a Bosnian filmmaker who
actually spent days and months in the Balkan conflict. The other one comes from
a Los Angeles filmmaker, inspired by the real life story of Lt. Colonel Hal
Moore’s experience in the Vietnam War.
The first,
titled No Man’s Land, won this year’s Golden Globe and Academy awards for best foreign film. As the movie begins, a Bosnian platoon
is lost in the night fog trying to find the Serb front line. When morning dawns
they literally find themselves on top of it. All are slaughtered, except for Ciki, who makes it with his
half-dead compatriot (Cera) to a trench in “no man’s land.” Two Serbian soldiers are sent out to
finish off the possible survivors. They find Cera who by now looks dead. For
amusement and spite, one of the soldiers plants an American-made “bouncing
mine” under the corpse. Once his
compatriots collect his body, it will pop into the air and blow up everything
in its vicinity. Ciki hiding in a
bunker kills this soldier and wounds the other, Nino—a naïve, untrained
recruit.
And here
the story really begins. We see
three men trapped by history, their emotions, and the absurdity of war in “no
man’s land.” As Ciki and Nino,
once neighbors who dated the same young woman, argue about whose fault is the
war, Cera awakes from what was only an unconscious state. They scream for him not to move—or they
will all die. Both sides soon
become aware of these soldiers’ plight. The UN comes charging in on a white
tank, trying to “diffuse” the situation.
Then the press gets wind of it all, and they become the final partner in
this tragic-comedy.
Sadly
funny, No Man’s Land presents the viewer with a grimly, realistic view of war, even without
the big bloody battle scenes so typical of Hollywood. This film will stun you,
but it will also make you laugh. There are no heroes in this film, only victims. You find yourself not knowing whom you
pity more, the soldiers trapped in the trench, Colonel Soft—the senior UN
official, or Jane Livingston—the anything-to-get-a-story journalist. And you ask yourself, “Does anyone care
about the human beings in that trench?”
One person
who does is Danis Tanovic, the screenwriter/director, who had previously filmed
for the Bosnian Army Archive 300 hours of frontline footage while under siege
in Sarajevo from 1992-1994. In No
Man’s Land he
combines hauntingly real characters and war’s dark humor, with his passionate
concern for the individual caught in war’s grip. The result is an anti-war film like no other; one that shows
the viewer that there is no simple answer to deeply, rooted hatred. Here is a
message that we should all remember as our government attempts to “root out”
terrorism around the world, but most particularly as we think about the Middle
East and Iraq.
From
Randall Wallace (screenwriter of Braveheart and an engaging Christian) comes a
completely different war film, We Were Soldiers. Wallace found the book, We Were Soldiers Once… and Young by
Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway in a used bookstore and
was gripped by its human perspectives on the Vietnam War. Basically it is the story of the first
major American battle in Vietnam, late in 1965. Moore led the men of the 1st Battalion of
the 7th Calvary (400-450 troops) into Ia Drang Valley, known as the
“Valley of Death.” They were surrounded by 3000 North Vietnamese troops. Moore and his men suffered heavy
casualties, but killed even more North Vietnamese. It was a painful “victory” as expressed in Moore’s words, to
the war reporter, Joe Galloway: “I’ll never forgive myself…That my men…that my
men died and I didn’t.”
The film
captures not only the perspective of the charismatic leader Lt. Col. Hal Moore
(a family man who is a devout Catholic—who’s prayers will make you smile—and a
Harvard graduate in international relations), but also the perspective of the
wives of these soldiers, and the perspective of the North Vietnamese
leaders. The film shows war as
horrendous and heartless to all three groups. It is not a political message about the war, it is about men
and women trying to survive, and in their efforts, showing the best and the
worst of humanity. In the end,
they fought not for country or cause, but for their comrades.
The film
doesn’t glorify the carnage of war, but it does raise up the honor and decency
of those who fight. It also refuses to demonize the North Vietnamese. They may be the “enemy”, but that
doesn’t necessarily mean they are evil.
Wallace reminds us that everyone in war is a human being.
Our
country’s leaders continue to face world-altering decisions. As faithful Christians we must not
cease praying for them. But we
must, ourselves, also wrestle with the question of war. If, as the preacher of Ecclesiastes
states, there is a time for war, we cannot be arrogant in thinking we know
exactly “how, when, or where.” For he also states in that same breath, there is
a time for peace. Moreover, as
these movies remind us so eloquently, the “who,” like us, are all children of
God. (Genesis 1:27)
Catherine
M. Barsotti
Robert K.
Johnston